When I begin to write a story, sometimes I have an idea of what my characters will look like, and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes, the vision that I have is only partial. Perhaps a key feature of the person I’ll be writing about, because it will matter a great deal to the plot. Other times, characters pop up. Sometimes they help move the plot along, the clerk at the shop, the barista in the cafe. Other times they appear on…
Do you ever write about the places you’ve been? Or, you know, real places? It’s a common question I hear, and the simple answer is yes— and no. It can be difficult to write about the places we know and not find ourselves overwhelmed and wrapped up in the most minute of details. One of the projects I’m currently in revision mode with takes place between two made up countries, and a real one. The real country just so happens…
I have a love hate relationship with research when it comes to writing. I love learning small minute details I can slip in for the reader and wonder if they’ll catch them. I take great pleasure in wondering if they know a word was chosen for the exact correlation to a scene, or if the tiniest detail I worked in is one they will notice. On the other hand, I hate, which is such a strong word, when I realize…
“How on earth did you come up with that idea?” someone asked me, after beta reading my book length story. “What do you mean?” They can’t tell that I’m slightly panicked, because we are conversing in text. But I am. I can feel the heat in my face, the worry gnawing at the pit of my stomach. Did they hate the whole thing? I struggle with negative feedback, and it’s not because I’m too prideful to think that I got…